O.N.E. YEAR OLD!

Our "baby" boy turned one year old on February 2!  I cannot believe he has been blessing our days for one year!  

 John Thomas, 

Little man, you are a hoot!  We laugh and play, tickle and wrestle, snuggle (a little) and most of all just love on you! The past year has been the best yet, and I cannot describe how much overflowing joy and happiness you bring to us!  You truly love everyone, and can light up an entire room with your bright eyes and big dimply smile! We love you to the moon, sweet boy!

Here are some of the things you have been doing this month:

• You are climbing on everything and jumping off the furniture, I forsee lots of bumps and bruises in our future! You especially like climbing on your little slide and climbing OFF of the sofa! 
• Peek a Boo is still your favorite game, we play it all the time! 
• Daddy, Brother and you wrestle all.the.time! They have even started pillow fighting with you and you will pick up the pillow and bring it to us for us to throw it at you.  
• You will point to your head, nose and mouth when we ask you to!  Sometimes you get confused on where your nose is, but you can always point to it on someone else. 
• Learned to blow kisses, and always put your hand backwards to do it.
• You have taken lots of steps this month!  Some days you walk and some days you don't!
• You have started playing pretend with different things, and your favorite is talking on the phone.  You will use anything as your "phone" and in the most serious big boy voice you say, "Hey!" then wait for a response, followed by lots of babbling! 
• You are the best little signer!  You can sign lots of different things and seem to learn a new sign every few days!  Your most recent ones are: Dog, Airplane, All done, Play, Please, Thank You, Sleepy, Ball, Daddy
• While Nana and Papa J were here, he hung your swing they got you for Christmas and you love it!  The weather has been so nice and we have been outside a lot, you are happiest outside playing!
• On 1/14 we said bye bye to your Paci!  Turns out, we were more attached to the convenience of it than you were.  You never missed a beat, and haven't seemed to miss it at all.  Although, one day we did pick you  up from the church nursery to find you in someone's lap (first clue) with a PINK paci, apparently you had stolen it from another baby and found refuge in the nursery ladies lap!
• You say a few words, "hey" "bye" "mama" and "daddy" - to hear you talk you are certain you know more than that, but we aren't able to decipher! 
• The refrigerator and dishwasher are two of your favorite places, anytime one or the other is open, you are there in an instant to check things out! 
• You give the best kisses, open mouth, of course!  But will usually give them anytime we ask!

Eating:
We are still doing 3-4 bottles, or nursing combined with 3 meals and two snacks.  We have started to introduce breast milk in his sippy cup, and so far that is a slow process.  Trying to get to no bottles over the next few months! He is still a great eater, and I truly believe starting with Baby Led Weaning is to thank!  He will eat anything!  Sometimes we are certain he eats more than we do! 

Sleep:
Still a great sleeper. Normally 10+ hours per night with two naps!  

Toys:
Some favorites are, Little People, Elmo Airplane Ride On, Books, Balls, and his slide! He loves to play!

Stats:

At his one year checkup - 

21 lbs 15 oz - 45%

29" tall - 25%

He got a great report at the pediatrician, we have a happy, healthy baby boy!  We made it one whole year without any medication for sickness and only went to the doctor once for anything other than a well check, only to find out we had a cold!

We also had his iron checked again, which is a traumatic experience involving going to the lab and having 3 vials of blood drawn!  Thankfully, it was normal and we can stop giving him his iron supplements!

Clothes:

Mostly 12 month and 12-18 month.  He can fit in his 9-12 month onesies, but they are pretty snug! His waist is the challenge combined with short legs, pants are always too long! He is still in all cloth diapers when at home (unless Daddy is in charge!) and wears size 4 disposables at school and church.

It is bittersweet that this will be the last monthly update!  I still plan on doing them, just not monthly.  Stay tuned for a post on his one year birthday celebration!